Easy Heavy Duty Crosscut Sled

Well, I have been meaning to make this for a long time. I've looked through a lot of YouTube videos as well as instructables. As I go through the instructions I'll definitely share things I would have done differently so that you can develop a tool that overall meets your needs the best. I hope later to be able to make a miter sled for 45 degree cuts and potentially some other jigs for box joints.

Birch Plywood (you'll only need half of this sheet, so if you can get a project board 4ft by 4ft cheaper, I would consider doing that)

Klein Level

Titebond Wood Glue

Miter Gauge Jig (I used a Rockler brand, but Home Depot does sell Powertec versions)

T-Tracks

Kreg Track and Stop System

Dewalt Table Saw

Circular Saw

Miter Saw

Ryobi Drill/Driver Combinations

Ryobi Trim Router

Large Router

Router Bit Set

3/4 Router Bit

Spax Screws

Using a Circular Saw, cut your base to size. For our sled, we cut it to 32 inches by 22 inches.

Cut the front and back fences out of remaining plywood. We cut a total of 6 pieces. Three pieces were just over 4 inches and 3 pieces just over 3 inches. Make sure they are at least the length of your sled (ours is 32 inches). We are cutting these fences tall so that we can trim them square later. We recommend sanding each of the pieces quickly before moving on to the glue-up.

Glue each set of three fence pieces. We highly recommend clamping each fence to a straight edge. As you can see, we used a level we had laying around.

The Powertec bar linked in the supplies is very similar to the blue Rockler brand used in the pictures. They are adjustable for different miter tracks on different table saws. If you have a DW745 Dewalt Table Saw like us, we recommend just using a standard 3/4 inch T-track as they fit just fine and are more affordable.

Our miter bar was the right size so we didn't make any changes, but aluminum T-tracks can easily be cut to size with a miter saw. The adjustable bars use nylon screws so that you can adjust them to the size of the miter slot for a perfect fit.

We used some washers as spacers in the miter tracks to lift the bar above the top of the table. We then used super-glue to affix the sled base to the bars. One thing we would have done different is to offset the sled more (most people do it and we were going to but forgot as soon as we dropped it on the glue).

From there, we drilled small holes through the threaded holes of the miter bar, created a countersink for the bolt through the top (use a forstner bit), then drilled out the rest of the bolt hole. (read the instructions of your miter bar for specifics on bolt size and thread).

Then we sanded any high points in both sides of the sled.

We used a 1/4 round bit to round over the sides of the sled. Since we will be grabbing those sides to move the sled around the workshop, we figured it would be best to create a softer edge.

Before actually running the blade through the unit, we recommend dialing your blade in to perfect square. To do this, we followed the instructions on our Klein Digital Electronic Level and Angle Gauge.

Run the blade up just enough to see where it is on the sled, be sure not to run all the way through the front or back until the fences have been installed.

We didn't wipe off the excess glue as we put the fences together, so we grabbed a chisel and knocked down any of the excess glue.

Then we trimmed and cut them to size. Depending on the size and capabilities of your table saw, you may need to adjust these measurements, but we cut the back fence to about 4 inches and the main fence to 3 inches to account for the blade (at maximum height) plus the depth of the t-track we will be installing later. Then we cut it to the length of the sled (32 inches).

Be sure to sand the whole thing down and add a small chamfer along the bottom edge of the front fence, facing the blade. This will ensure dust doesn't accumulate and manipulate your cuts. We decided to give an angle to our back fence and route the edges. Later in the pictures you will see that we further decided to cut open the fence to reduce on the weight.

We decided we wanted to have a couple t-tracks to hold down our workpieces, so we measure where we wanted the track (TIP: We recommend you align the track so that any hold down pieces cannot reach the blade, ours was a little too close for comfort, but we didn't want to run the track through the screws used to hold in the miter bar and didn't want it so far away that it wouldn't hold a small piece near the blade), found the right depth for the router, and screwed them in. We had to trim down the screws so they would fit. As you can see (TIP), although we routed across the whole sled base, our t-track only runs about 16 of the 22 inches. This is to accommodate the bolt used in the t-track. We have seen others cut slots out of the rear fence to accommodate the bolts, but we thought this was easier.

We are using basic T-track for our Kreg stop block (although we wish we would have been a little more consistent with been Rockler or Kreg products, so we recommend being consistent).

We set up our router table and ran the 3/4 inch bit through the middle of our fence. If you don't have the setup for this, you could have potentially prepared the fence prior to glue-up to allow for that channel.

Mount the back fence to the sled base by pre-drilling and countersinking for the Spax screw. At this time, you can mount the entire fence, recommend at least 4 screws (be sure to avoid where the saw blade runs).

For the front fence, only mount using 2 screws as you will need to pivot and adjust it. Then you can run the blade through the entire sled and both fences. We used the 5 cut method and the following website http://www.kevinsworkbench.com/5cutmethod/index.h...

It took us quite a few times to get close enough for us. They make it sound like an easy process, but every time I made the adjustment I was off in a completely different way. This is one of the reasons why it's key to have a straight fence to start. If there is a bow in your fence, it will be very difficult to align.

We routed and sanded the sharp edges of the front fence as well for ease of use.

We had some scrap 1x4, so we cut a few small pieces, nailed them together, then used pocket screws to mount it to the back of the front fence, protecting your fingers from the blade as you complete your pass. We sanded down all the sharp edges, then used some left-over red spray paint to highlight it.

That's all there is to it. A lot of people add a wax to the bottom of the sled, but we didn't feel there was a significant need to at this time. We hope you enjoyed this instructable and would love to hear about your builds. Check us out for more on YouTube and Facebook.